Hollywood Remembers Leonard Nimoy

Flowers were placed at Leonard Nimoy's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today.
Leonard Nimoy passed away earlier today from complications due to COPD.
He tweeted his fans a last message last night that read "A life is like a garden, Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP"

LLAP, Leonard Nimoy, always.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2015

LLAP

Famoso Testing

Getting ready for the March Meet drags in Bakersfield.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2015

Champion Speed Shop Top Fuel dragster.

Mendy Fry inside "The Darkside" funny car.

B/Gas Camaro testing.

Venus Mars and Our Moon

Venus, Mars, and our Moon were in close alignment last evening over the skies of Los Angeles.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2015

Venus, Mars, and our Moon.

Western Snowy Plover

The Western Snowy Plovers are now nesting on Dockweiler Beach in Los Angeles.
The plover is on the threatened species list, latest population numbers have the birds in a slight decline with numbers in the low hundreds at Dockweiler. Statewide, the population numbers reflect a slight decline from a lack of safe nesting spaces for the birds.
Rising sea levels due to global warming also threaten the existence of the small sparrow sized birds. Loose dogs which chase and stress the birds and joggers who crush their nest and eggs are the plovers biggest threats for now.
Read about the plight of the plover in this issue of the Argonaut.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2015

Western Snowy Plover.

Hollyhock House Opens to the Public

The Hollyhock House designed by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and built by his son Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler back in 1922, opened to the public today. The house will be free of charge and open for 24 hours today only to all visitors. After today regular hours and a charge of $7 dollars will apply.
The house underwent 3 years of extensive restoration and is in pristine condition.
I highly recommend seeing this house, it is a true jewel of Los Angeles.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2015

Exterior east view.

Living room.

Kitchen area.

Frank's custom Bentley in his favorite red color.

Exterior west view.

Venice Beach Photo Workshop Sat. Feb. 28

Venice Beach at sunset.

On Saturday February 28, 2015, we are offering a daylong photo workshop in Venice Beach. This workshop will be lead by Jonathan Alcorn and Ted Soqui, with special guest speaker Nick Ut. Between the three of us, we have about a 100 years of photo experience. With our workshop, we will motivate and inspire you to improve your photographic vision.
Most of the class time will be spent in the field taking photos and learning.
This class is good for travelers or folks who want to learn to shoot in a photojournalistic style.


All abilities are welcome, we enjoy working with all levels of photographers. This is a hands-on in the field workshop where you we will show you how to use your camera as a powerful photographic story telling tool. We will begin the day with a slideshow and instruction on what we will do throughout the day.

Class size will be limited to 12 people maximum. We will start at 10:30am and will shoot until dusk, that’s when we get the best photos of the day.

The techniques and approaches we will teach you are the exact same ones we use. You will explore some of Venice Beach’s most interesting people and locations with us.


We will cover lots of ground and see some amazing places including the Venice Beach Boardwalk, Venice Skate Park, canals, and the sandy beach by the breakwater. Hopefully by the end of the class, you will be more comfortable in meeting and photographing some of Venice’s most interesting sites and people. We will push you to a new and better level of story telling with your camera.

UPDATE.

SAMSUNG Cameras USA will be bringing some of the newest and latest NX mirrorless cameras and lenses for our participants to use for the day. This is a great opportunity to try some of the latest and best mirrorless camera technology on our workshop. The SAMSUNG NX camera system is at the leading edge of mirrorless camera technology.

What to bring:
A camera with fully charged batteries.
Lots of battery power this is a daylong class.
I prefer using a DSLR type of camera. Digital cameras are good to help us evaluate your progress.


We will be chasing the decisive moment and DSLR style cameras are best for that. Overall, bring your most comfortable camera. Lenses I suggest bringing, a wide-angle 16mm up to 28mm, and a med-telephoto lens. If you have a zoom lens, make sure it covers a wide a semi-telephoto focal length (24-105mm range). I like shooting with a longer zoom like a 70-200mm, but any medium zoom will be awesome for this class.

We will also be exploring the use of iPhones and other camera phones as options to capture amazing images.
Leave your flash and tripod at home.
Lots of memory cards for your cameras. We don not delete images during the class.
Hat and sun block.
Money for snacks.
Wear very comfortable shoes with rubber sole shoes. Sandals and flip-flops for the end of day, when we walk on the beach.
A small notepad with a pen. Always great to take notes and exchange email address with.

What we will provide:
A guided view of Venice and the environs with two world-class photojournalist as instructors and special guest speaker Pulitzer Prize winning
Photojournalist Nick Ut.
Snacks and coffee, tea, or water at the beginning of class.
A delicious lunch meal.
Entrance fees to any attractions we enter.
We can help with some phone and camera charging, but would prefer if you took care of that before the workshop.

Weather

Winter/Spring weather is always unpredictable. We always make the most of what weather we get. That’s part of the class. We are hoping for sunny winter weather in Venice.
Be prepared with a selection of appropriate clothing for the day. A small jacket along with a hat would be very helpful. You probably won’t need gloves or scarves.
Sun block is always a good idea.
Wear full-length pants or equivalent.
Venice Beach in December usually is a great time of year, it should be warm and mild through out the day. The early evenings tend to chill down quickly.
How to register:
Send me an email at info@jtaphotoagency.com


Our webpage is now up at www.jtaphotoagency.com

The fee is $300.00 Special early sign-up fee is 275.00 before February 14, 2015
Include your name and address.
Will be able to sign you up over the phone and answer any questions you may have. If you are flying in from out of town, we can pick you up from the airport.
Keep following us on Facebook, Twitter, and now on Instagram @JT A_PHOTO_AGENCY

Biographies: Instructor Ted Soqui

Ted Soqui is a Los Angeles based photojournalist with over 35 years of experience. Most of Ted’s work is editorial based and his clients range from Bloomberg Philanthropies, LA Weekly, Time Magazine, and television shows like “The Closer” and “Major Crimes.” Ted’s work is also in the permanent collection of the Autry Museum of the West.
His work can also be found at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica.
Ted’s photo interest range from US politics, political movements, and wild fires. Ted also has a book coming out in June, “Snap Cackle Pop.” It’s available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Instructor Jonathan Alcorn

Jonathan Alcorn is an editorial photographer with images routinely published worldwide while working on assignment for Reuters, Getty Images, Bloomberg News, and The New York Times among others. A highlight for Jonathan was mentoring Alzheimer's patients in a photography project that documented their daily lives, and then curated the images leading to a successful photo exhibition of their work benefiting the Alzheimer's Association.
In addition to his interest in portraiture and breaking news photography, Jonathan is currently working on a long-term photo project documenting his home base of Venice Beach. He is also a member of Samsung Camera USA's Imagelogger program

Special guest Nick Ut.

Nick Ut is a photographer with the AP.
He is best known for photographing a young girl, Kim Phuc, running down a street in Vietnam after a napalm drop on her and her village. The photo was credited with ending the war in Vietnam and it won him the Pulitzer Prize in photography.
Nick still works as a photographer in the Los Angeles bureau of the AP and continues to take great and amazing photos.

Join us, you will have a great day taking photos, learning new things, and making new friends.

TS JTa © 2014 

Louis Vuitton Series 2 Collection

The Louis Vuitton Series 2 collection and exhibition at 1135 N.Highland Ave in Hollywood.
The exhibition which features the Series 2 collection conceived by Women’s Artistic Director, Nicolas Ghesquière, runs through February 6-22, 2015.
Visitors will receive free posters and LV decals.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2015

New LV circle logo.

Series 2 handbag.

Greta Garbo's LV vintage traveling shoe luggage case.

Series 2 earrings.

Esmeralda's look.

Elco Welding and Engineering

Bob Libow of Elco welding and Engineering. Read about Bob and his brother Mark in the latest issue of the Argonaut Newspaper.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 1915/2015

Bob Libow of Elco.

Dockweiler Beach Sunset

Sunset at Dockweiler Beach near LAX.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2015

An end to another lovely day in LA.

Air France Take-Off @ LAX

A beautiful Air France A380 taking off from LAX flying over Dockweiler beach in Los Angeles.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2015

La belle fille.